2013 Ford Escape

Comments

I have Titanium and no problems. Trip today 90% hiway 27mpg. I would be thinking about what car to buy also after reading this forum. My car was built about 6 months after they first came out so think they are getting better. They are not great on gas in the city, one poster from San Francisco is unhappy as he drives in the city a bunch and some hills. If I had it to do over again I would buy a BMW X1 that just came out. Not that I do not like the car but about the same price and 5 years of free maint.. Plus I came out of a German car and there is just something about them they seem only to have.. So my reason for a do over are not quality related but just the driving experience. I also found the Titanium about same price as SEL if I added 2.0 engine. The first year can have some problems and these forums are most often used by people with problems as few people post to say how much they love their car. I appreciate all the posters as they have helped me so much.

You are right! I've had my 2013 Escape since July, and I'm getting around 28 mpg. Nowhere near what is being touted about this vehicle by Ford. I've contacted them and they are telling me to take it to my dealership to have it tested. I've also been reading that premium gas is recomenned for this vehicle. I wish I'd know all this before I purchased it. I would have kept on looking.....

I'm not singling out anyone here, so don't reply like I'm talking about you, I'm making a general statement based on my experience with my FWD, 2.0L Titanium. It's all about driving style. Folks who accelerate aggressively will obviously see lower mpg's. You have to drive these turbos with some finesse and stay out of turbo boost until you need it. At stop lights a very light foot on the accelerator helps, and on the freeway, stay at a constant moderate speed. When you pass on the freeway, you don't need to floor it, this car will take off with a slight push of the accelerator. Use the deceleration fuel cut off when ever possible, coasting to stop lights and on exit ramps will improve your mpg's. I know that in different regions of the Country, people drive differently, but the car behind you can only go as fast as you're going. Here in the Upper Midwest, we tend to drive more slowly and you won't get harassed or threatened if you take off from stops gently or drive the speed limit. I drive the same route to work every weekday, 1 mile city to a semi crowded freeway, 7 miles at 50-60 mph, with slow downs for slow and merging traffic and then 1 mile to my office, under those conditions my average is currently 25.5 to 26.3 mpg's and it was a little higher when temps were warmer. I took a road trip this summer from Minnesota to Louisiana, mostly on 2 lane highways, but some interstate and 4-lane bypass. I drove between 55 and 65 on the way down and I got as high as 38 mpg's, but generally got 34-36 mpg's. I'd say 75% of the time I was traveling 60-62 mph. I was told by the service manager at my dealership that the sweet spot for the 2.0L and the 6 speed transmission is 63 mph. On the way home from Baton Rouge to Minneapolis I drove Interstate the entire way and depending on the weather (it rained for the stretch through LA and MS), at the speed limit of 70 or 2 mph above, I got 33 mpg and as much as 36 mpg at slightly slower speeds. Whenever I drive the Interstate I use the cruise control, except in hilly terrain and drive 2 mph above the posted, I anticipate when I'll need to pass slower traffic and pass well in advance of the cars traveling fast in the left lane. I accelerate slowly and evenly and try to never go below what my cruise is set at. When I have to cancel the cruise and resume, I accelerate evenly to speed and then resume the cruise rather than hitting resume and having the engine rev to speed. I enjoy a good road trip and have traveled coast to coast and border to border multiple times and over the years I have developed a good driving style. Unless there is something obviously wrong with your car, decent mpg's are attainable with a consistent and conservative driving style.

I would agree that around 24mpg is real world mileage, at least here in the DC suburbs. Most folks don't fill up next to the interstate, then get on the interstate and drive till its empty, then exit and fill up, then repeat that process. I have yet to go on a long road trip to really test out those highway mpg, but right now I'm at 23 to 24 mpg.

I would think 23-24 would be pretty good combined mpg's for the DC area. Lots of stop and go, heavy traffic and fast freeway speeds. I have been to the DC area a couple of times and my experience was that they'll run you off the road if you're only driving 60-65 on the highway. You are right on with your fill up analogy. My guess is people most often fill up in the city or burbs driving home or to work and on surface streets. With idling, stop and go, slower speeds and errands, it's most likely you're never going to go above 18 or so until you log some constant speed highway miles.

You're implying that special effort, attention, is required of the driver in order to attain FE in/near the EPA range.

But that is NOT what the EPA intends nor do they test for.

I will probably never own an EcoBoost for numerous reasons but if I did the first thing I would do is change the "gain" of the gas pedal position as it relates to throttle plate position. I suspect, strongly so, that the throttle plate reaches the WOT position with about 1/2 gas pedal depression. From that point on the turbo speed is regulated and thereby used to provide the engine throttling (un-throttling??) function.

I think I would begin by "wiring" the wastegate fully open and drive that way for a reasonably long period. Long enough to determine just how good the FE might be even with a detuned (10:1 compression ratio vs the DFI standard of 12-14:1) DFI engine and no turbo boost. Also get an idea of the level (enough?) of HP/torque with no boost.

You're absolutely right that that is not what the EPA intends or test for- it has *nothing* really to do with what FE *any* driver will achieve with *their* driving. It's all about comparison- being able to compare Car A to Car B and Car C when shopping on the lot. NONE of them is really rated for *my* driving, *your* driving, or *anyone else's* driving. Just a simple comparison. It might help some of those that can't understand what it's really about to say that maybe they should have a flat ratings sheet- this car is ranked number 1 for highway, number 6 for city, and number 4 for combined mileage among all it's peers. That way, nobody misunderstands and really thinks that the numbers are what they 'should' be getting. Only that, driving Car A will return better fuel economy than Car B, in most situations.

Amen. Some situations are going to make it hard to get near the EPA numbers, but those numbers aren't really there to tell you what you're going to get, they're to tell us how this or that car ranks compared to the others on a 'standard' test loop (city / highway / combined being merely labels, and not really our city, our highway, or our combined). Nonetheless, many of us will equal or exceed the EPA numbers with little effort. Some don't drive in a way that will- and there are a LOT of those people out there- I see them on the roads with me all the time, whether in Prius or Camaro SS. And some traffic, road conditions, etc. make it hard for even those that *do* drive conservatively (which I doubt most people complaining of FE in their cars really *do*, but that doesn't mean none do).

"If you are currently an aggressive driver (cruising speeds from 75-85 mph, constantly accelerating and changing lanes and braking sharply) and you decided to calm down (driving with the cruise control set to 65 mph), your fuel economy would improve an average of 35 percent."

Thanks Steve. Those are great articles, illustrating exactly what we're saying- it's actually very rare nowadays for the cars to be at fault. Most of the time poor fuel economy, especially when people start comparing what they're getting to the window sticker, comes down to one of the items in that first article, and pretty much in the same order they list- conditions, driver style, etc.

Special effort and attention is required to operate a motor vehicle and to maximize fuel economy. In real world driving situations, it takes some effort to reach or exceed EPA estimates. I always end up behind the car in front of me that races from light to light and all I had to do is, granted it took some thought and effort, accelerate gradually for a half a block, coast for a quarter block and brake for a quarter block and sometimes I don't even have to brake, damn, that was easy.

As I'm sure you know, two lane driving isn't always the best for fuel economy. Also, vans have never been known for good mpg's. Older US highways weren't built under the same regulations as the Interstate system. Twists and turns, grades, slowing for traffic and slowing or stopping for towns affects mpg's. On my last 2-lane road trip I got my best mpg's traveling through Southern Minnesota and across Iowa where it's flat, straight and desolate.

Well maybe they have! I called Syncservices for the third time and gave them my whole list of problems and asked that they escalate it. I got a call from someone on the design team. According to her, there has been a problem with the iPhone 4S (maybe the 5 too) corrupting the MyTouch software - hence the bugs. Apparently they have released a new version of the software last Monday that is supposed to fix the problem. I am supposed to take the car back to the dealer tomorrow and have the sysytem flashed with the new software. I am keeping my fingers crossed, as this is the only real complaint I have about the car - I love it otherwise. The milage on mine fluctuates considerably. I am waiting for a long highway trip to really test that out.

Agree with the observation that the driver determines the vehicles' mgp by the way he/she drives. However, each vehicle has its own personality in a way. For instance, I also own an Infinity M35 which is quite fast and accelerates incredibly well once you smash down on the accelerator. I also own an Escape Titanium 2.0 AWD and compared to the M35, it is much easier to accelerate quickly on the Escape than on the M35.

How so? Well, the pedal pressure that I have to apply to the M35 to get to a certain speed feels much harder than on the Escape. In other words and this might be totally subjective, I feel I have to press the accelerator pedal much harder in the M35 than on the Escape in order to reach the same level of acceleration.

Based on my experience then I would have to say that Ford has made it much easier to accelerate on the Escape by setting a lower pedal pressure calibration on this car versus my M35. Consequently, given the spirited performance of this car, it is much easier to waste gas by accelerating faster than normal compared my other car.

As said before, this is my observation based on the performance of the two cars I own. So for what its worth, it is easier to waste gas and mpg's on the Escape than on my M35.

I have a [non-permissible content removed] 2.0t 2x4 a lil over 1000 miles. average city mpg 19 using cheap Walmart 87 octane gas. I am also at sea level in Houston, and pretty much flat around herefreeway 24mpg, I would say i am a hair aggressive, puts me where I thought I would be, im glad i didnt need the premium unleaded to get it. And yes I hit the turbo quite often... No reason to drive like a turtle to get those specs. If you do and are getting bad mpg, the easiest thing to check esp in the cooler weather is the PSI in your tires, make sure they match the door, you wont hurt anything buy adding 2 psi, your mpg will improve, i have never balded the center of my tires by doing this.The my touch works well for me, a hair sluggish, but it is a PC, and thats expected. Someone asked about the oil life, I didnt see an answer.. we have an oil life monitor, but I dont see where to check the life percentage.. im sure a light comes on when its close, but I would still like to monitor.Overall love the car MPG are close to what I expected, radio/mytouch was tooi do not like the 19" tires, the ride is fine, but look up prices on new shoes, I am not looking forward to that

My wife has an AWD Titanium with about 1K miles one it.I'm going to hold off on the mileage returns for a while, but since it has the 19's like yours, I went to TireRack and looked them up.They are rated for 60k miles, which is pretty good.We also have an '09 with 50k+ on it.The original Michelin's are rated for 65k, but I think they will be good for much more than that.Every 5k, I get 'The Works' done (oil change/tire rotation).I check tire pressures pretty often on all my vehicles.

Finally, the 2.0L SEL arrived and the dealer had it prepped and waiting for me yesterday. I noticed the mpg slowly dropped as the car was sitting there idling with the dealer giving me the run-through of the controls. I can see where it will take some time getting used to the dash when compared to my 2003 Explorer.

I converted my iTunes library over to MP3 and loaded it all onto an SD card. The Entertainment Center indexed everything and allows choosing music by artist, song, genre, and so on which is nice. iPhone connected nicely and loaded my phone directory. Not so good with that is that it is sorting by first name, and does not load the contact photos.

Now where to hardwire the radar detector? I saw a company mentioned elsewhere called BlendMount. Even though they claim to have a mirror mount for the 2013 Escape, looking at their gallery and looking at the mirror in the Escape, I don't thinks it is possible to attach their mount.

Ok, I am cautiously saying "Eureka" on the MyFord Touch on my 2013 Escape. After all of the frustration and headaches, it looks like the new software flash update of the system has it working like I would have expected when I bought the car. It links up seamlessly with my iPhone, locates the Bluetooth easily, indexes my device, shows the complete title of my audiobook and either autoplays my title or plays instantly on voice command if the audio has been turned off. This had all been extremely buggy and hit or miss, or didn't work at all before. I am going to give it a few days before I wholeheartedly say the issues are fixed, but it is looking good right now. If this continues to work well, I will be a very satisfied customer!

I have had nothing but problems with my new escape. It has been back to the dealer with sync problems that they cannot seem to fix. The phone, radio heat and air go dead all the time. Have been talking for ford about the lemon law. I would not recommend this car.

Check with Syncservices. I had issues with Sync driving me crazy. It was doing a lot of bizarre things A replacement of the sync system did not help. I had them escalate it on the syncservices support line and got a call from the design team. They said the newer iPhones were corrupting the sync software. They arranged a service call with my dealer. They just released a new software update a week ago that seems to have resolved all of my issues with sync (at least so far!). I have not had problems since the update was installed. It is now working like I expected when I bought the car.

I don't have the iPhone and have had the same exact issues as Hawk, maybe not the same frequency, but have had the radio cut out for no reason twice, had the heat/climate system shut off at a stop light for no reason, the clock on the radio is constantly changing times on me in the middle of the night while I'm sleeping. I am very disappointed in the MFT system, the car is great, but these issues really make me regret my decision!

How did you get the 3.5.1 ?I took delivery of my factory ordered 2.0 FWD last week and have 3.2.2 installed and I get no options on syncmyride to upgrade. I love my Escape so far, but would like to get rid of a couple of MFT glitches.